Shocking the Huskers - Slimshoom's Blog

Slimshoom's Blog

Shocking the Huskers

Posted on November 15, 2008 at 11:48 PM.

Nebraska - 27 @ Wake Forest - 38

9/5/2009 - Slimshoom

Winston-Salem, North Carolina --
After giving up 34 points and over 400 yards of offense to Marshall in their season opener last week, many people thought they would be absolutely torched yesterday when the #22 Nebraska Cornhuskers came into Winston-Salem.

However, after forty minutes of wacky and wild football in North Carolina, it was the Deacons that stood victorious at home thanks to their defense. Nebraska Quarterback Kody Spano made just his second career start in college, and boy did it show. Spano threw six interceptions yesterday, mostly because of the tremendous amount of pressure the Deacons had all game long.

It's not often that a defensive back gets multiple sacks in a game, but thats just what Wake Forest strong safety Jordan Williams did yesterday. Because of the switch to a 3-3-5 defensive scheme, Williams was able to blitz often. He ended up breaking the Wake Forest record for sacks in a game by bringing Spano down four times.

The only aspect of the game where the Deacons were outplayed in was special teams, especially on kickoffs. For the first time in school history, the Cornhuskers returned two consecutive kickoffs for touchdowns. Niles Paul wrapped up the first half with a 103 yard return to make it a 21-17 game. The Cornhuskers got the ball to start the second half, and the other return man, Chris Brooks, promptly took the kick back 91 yards to give the Cornhuskers their only lead of the game.

It was once again the running game that paced the Deacons offense in their second win of 2009. The Deacons racked up 191 yards on the ground, as opposed to only 48 by the Cornhuskers. Four of Wake Forest's five touchdowns came of the rushing variety, as both Josh Adams and Kevin Harris rushed for more than fifty yards and two touchdowns.

This win was a big one for the Deacons, but they have another big game next week. Starting with the game today, the Deacons enter a four game stretch that will test the Deacons' mettle. They start off next week with their conference opener against rival North Carolina. They then have back-to-back contests against ranked opponents, as they play Clemson and Florida State in consecutive weeks.

Freshman free safety Erik Clarke won the Defensive Player of the Week award for the country this week, as he had a career day in his second college start. Clarke not only brought the ballcarrier down fifteen times, but he also picked off three passes in a gargantuan effort. Clarke is the first freshman from Wake Forest to win the award.

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter:
5:34 - Josh Adams, 2 Yard run - 7-0 WF
1:16 - Adam Kunalic, 40 Yard field goal - 7-3 WF
2nd Quarter:
9:33 - Josh Adams, 3 Yard run - 14-3 WF
1:48 - Quentin Castile, 67 Yard pass from Kody Spano - 14-10 WF
0:10 - Devon Brown, 46 Yard pass from Riley Skinner - 21-10 WF
0:00 - Niles Paul, 103 Yard kickoff return - 21-17 WF
3rd Quarter:
9:47 - Chris Brooks, 91 kickoff return - 24-21 NEB
7:46 - Adam Kunalic, 37 Yard field goal - 27-21 NEB
4:39 - Kevin Harris, 2 Yard run - 28-27 WF
4th Quarter:
8:51 - Kevin Harris, 2 Yard run - 35-27 WF
6:06 - John Stamper, 39 Yard field goal - 38-27 WF

Individual Leaders

Passing
Kody Spano (NEB) - 31/50, 326 Yards, TD, 6 Int
Riley Skinner (WF) - 20/33, 272 Yards, TD, 2 Int
Rushing
Roy Helu Jr. (NEB) - 24 Att, 85 Yards
Josh Adams (WF) - 33 Att, 109 Yards, 2 TD
Receiving
Chris Brooks (NEB) - 8 Rec, 74 Yards
Devon Brown (WF) - 7 Rec, 102 Yards, TD
Defensive
Brian Lawrence (NEB) - 11 Tkl, Int, FR
Erik Clarke (WF) - 15 Tkl, 3 Int

Up Next:
vs North Carolina (1-0)

Comments

# 1 larrygiterdone @ Nov 16

6 picks for spano

# 2 Slimshoom @ Nov 16

yea pretty unrealistic, but it was played on Heisman, it was just one of those games

# 3 rudyjuly2 @ Nov 28

I shock the Huskers every time I play them in NCAA '09 with Colorado. I have Colorado St (they always scare me), Kansas St and Nebraska as my rivals. I'm 14-1 through 5 years in rivalry games now but 1-4 in bowl games. Ouch!